Heads reject Government targets

TO the Government's dismay, head teachers turned on the Department for Education yesterday and challenged its right to "micromanage" their schools.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) told its members, who run virtually all the primary schools in England and Wales, to ignore national and local education authority literacy and numeracy targets for 11-year-olds. It said target-setting, driven by the Treasury and one of the principal instruments of the Government's education policy, was "getting completely out of hand".

Expectations placed on some local education authorities, and therefore their schools were pure fantasy.

"Our members are fed up with Government micromanagement and its attempt to pursue such a highly prescriptive standards agenda," said David Hart, general secretary of the association. The last straw for the NAHT was an announcement of "new tough targets" made on March 13 by Estelle Morris, the Education Secretary.

Although she said primary standards had improved dramatically in the last four years, she said some schools were "still not enabling pupils to reach their full potential".

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The Department for Education said: "There is clear evidence that target-setting works. Not only does it help to raise standards, but it also helps schools make better use of the resources they manage by giving them clear goals."

Teacher supply agencies will need to meet minimum standards, including checking police and employment records, in order to qualify for a new quality mark. The voluntary scheme has been launched by the Government after it emerged that the agency which employed Amy Gehring, the teacher acquitted of indecently assaulting pupils, was sent into schools despite a police warning that she posed a risk to pupils.